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Vettel unconcerned as FIA reins in Red Bull Racing engine mapping

Sebastian Vettel rolls past a group of his fans last week in Germany. Vettel isn't worried about the FIA's crackdown on engine mapping. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

Sebastian Vettel says that he’s not concerned by the FIA’s clampdown on engine mapping, which is expected to handicap the Red Bull RB8.

Last weekend in Germany, FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer declared that the cars were contravening the restrictions on off-throttle blowing of the diffuser.

Red Bull Racing escaped sanction, but the governing body has sought to clarify the regulations that its own stewards had deemed to be not precise enough.

“Obviously there’s a lot of talk,” Vettel said. “There has been some talk Saturday night and Sunday, which obviously wasn’t nice for us in terms of race preparation, if you only know roughly an hour before the race what’s going to happen.

“I think we took it, and obviously it was good for us to start from the grid, but it was also clear that probably it was not the last action to be taken. But, to be honest, there is more of a fuss in writing and talking than mapping in the car.”

Vettel declined to quantify any potential loss of form: “Obviously what we had in the car in Hockenheim was what we decided to race and go for, because we believed it was quickest. It’s a little bit different for here. It’s hard to express; it’s hard to give you two-tenths, half a tenth, nothing. We can’t measure it either.”